


It Seems Like Yesterday

by AvaCelt



Series: EXO Prompt Fills [18]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Gen, Injury, Injury Recovery, M/M, References to Illness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-19
Updated: 2013-07-19
Packaged: 2017-12-20 16:21:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/889335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AvaCelt/pseuds/AvaCelt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The crazy things a jealous Luhan will do just to turn Yixing's attention towards him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It Seems Like Yesterday

There’s a trip to the hospital consisting of a bunch of x-ray waits, a few shots, and a stern explanation to their manager that a pulled waist is the equivalent of a pulled waist and nothing more. Luhan, being the everlasting eavesdropper on all conversations regarding a certain Chinaman, inwardly chuckles at the tongue-lashing his superior takes, and even manages to smile outwardly after the nurse unceremoniously tells the man to see himself out of the room.

He shouldn’t be relishing in anyone’s misery. It’s not the moral thing to do, but there’s someone four rooms down that’s hooked up to an IV with ten other men under the age of twenty-five crowded around his bed and throwing comments left and right. Luhan knows this because Luhan just left said room. So when he slinks deeper into the corner and spies their manager bury his head in his hands for the incoming insults he’s going to have to endure from the higher-ups, Luhan smirks viciously enough that the lone wrinkles around his eyes glow in a sort of possessed way that people routinely tell him to pretend-smile because his real smile is just too frightening.

Luhan allows himself to tip-toe out of the manager’s line of sight and return to the crowded room where two other patients enjoy the company of ten handsome men. Yixing doesn’t see him come in.

Luhan is OK with that. Baekhyun makes conversation. Kyungsoo has no shame in chatting it up next to him. Wufan is quiet but endearing, and smiles at just the right times so Yixing can beam back with a shine that he was devoid of earlier. Sehun stuffs more jello into his mouth. Jongin demands he get some as well.

He takes a seat next to the patient closest to the door. The young boy, about thirteen, gives him a nod, and Luhan’s eyes crinkle with mirth. His disconcerting grin doesn’t faze the young boy, and for that, Luhan is thankful.

Some time not too long ago (though it seemed like ages to him), he’d have done almost anything to get the other man’s attention. Luhan was the possessive type when it came to friendships and relationships in general. With friendship came attention, and in his younger years, attention was all he craved. A only a year or so ago, he’d managed to find someone who was willing to indulge him after his family turned the other way.

Things had changed. Now Luhan likes to watch from afar.

No one “threatened” what was, what _is_ , between them. But back then, Luhan was as self-conscious as the next pubescent boy in line. And Yixing was kind. He had awarmth in him that couldn’t be extinguished no matter what the circumstances turned out to be. Their failed performance on stage just a few hours before was proof of that kindness. I owe my fans everything, the younger man sometimes claimed. Luhan didn’t like that, so he told him to buzz off. Everyone, including Luhan himself, could see that jealousy wreaked havoc inside him. But Luhan, who laid on his bed and watched the latter sleep on nights where the depths of slumber denied him entrance, knew that Yixing was willing to assuage that green monster living inside him. In fact, he was the  _only_  one.

Yixing never told him to stop being jealous. He just told him to start being happier.

Wufan was a problem for him for about two weeks until he realized that the over-sized Canadian was as lost as he was. His biggest strength was his biggest weakness- his overwhelming height and stature. Luhan remembered being uncouth around him, trying to get him to step off Yixing who only deserved Luhan’s attention, and Luhan’s attention only. But one day, Yixing gave him a sad look, and Wufan had tripped so many times at practice that Luhan saw three other trainees ready to burst into tears because of the instructor’s insults. Then Yixing and a few others spent the day comforting the tall boy, and Luhan tagged along as more of a burden than help.

But that was a long time ago. The young boy pats Luhan’s hand and he blinks out of his reverie. There are a pack of worn cards in his hands. Luhan likes cards. They start a game.

After Wufan became his friend, he started to ease out of his comfort zone. That included letting Yixing go, because Luhan learned that admiring from the farthest distance was the safest way to go. It was also the farthest thing from understanding, as Sousuke Aizen would say. But Luhan began to assimilate, and that was enough for the time.

He didn’t need to understand Yixing, because Yixing was an enigma worth worshiping and admiring, and to attempt to understand him would mean that Luhan was attempting to bring the younger man down to his level. In Luhan’s head, that would never work because Yixing was as intangible as the stars, and admiration was more than enough because understanding would mean that Yixing was as breakable as he was. The pedestal where he planted the younger man earlier was where he was to stay for the remainder of their time together. It was enough then, and it’s enough now, he thinks as he plays another card, earning a string of giggles from his opponent.

Yixing never called out Luhan’s green monster. Luhan called out his own demons.

Yixing was quiet the day Luhan got the phone call about the frozen bank account. When he broke a glass over the table and sent shards of glass flying everywhere, Yixing stood where he was and watched with hooded eyes. The other trainees told him to eat shit. He told them land a hit, if they dared. He got put on probation for a week and almost lost his spot in the training facility. Wufan gave him a look of pity. Yixing stood where he always did during the coordinator’s speech. Afterwards, Luhan felt himself get pulled into a hug.

The manager walks in a half an hour later, and Luhan grins smugly at the man’s state. Even the boy is a bit shocked at the crumpled attire and the dark rings under the older man’s eyes.

The members are ushered out one by one, and the man doesn’t bother to tell them if Yixing is coming back or not. Luhan rolls his eyes and tells them it’s only for the night, for observatory purposes, and that he’ll be back in their cramped living spaces in due time. He waves the little boy goodbye and makes his way behind Chanyeol, who has no problem being last.

“You’re going too?”

Luhan likes to think that it’s just his imagination, but when he turns around, Yixing’s eyes are wide and unblinking, and his mouth is open just the slightest bit. The manager barks for him to hurry. Luhan can’t flip a superior the bird, so he turns back around and bows before rushing in and closing the door shut. He waits for the man to come back and drag him outside, but no one shows up. He knows he’s screwed, but staying overnight in a hospital with injured significant others did not warrant for termination of his contract. He hopes not. He shrugs, and turns back.

The boy and the old woman give him warm smiles and he nods kindly back at them before stepping over to the younger man.

It’s the same thing from a few years before (which still seems like ages to Luhan), and he takes a chair and seats himself next to the younger man and they talk like old friends talk. In some way, they are old friends. Maybe not as old as they’d like, but they would be, eventually. The other two patients join in on their conversation and it’s like Luhan’s back home, since they all speak Mandarin and have no shame and quirking their lips and wriggling their eyebrows.

Yixing, like always, falls asleep first. The patients follow soon after. Luhan doesn’t get a wink of sleep until the early throes of dawn when he’s finally sated his mind’s desires to memorize every ridge on Yixing’s right palm.

**~*~**

Luhan gets scolded in front of the others. No one says a word once the manager finishes and leaves. Luhan doesn’t mind. Joonmyun and Wufan shuffle their feet. Minseok pats his shoulder and offers him a bottle of water, of which he’s grateful for. Soon, they’re mingling again and the event is pushed out of their minds. Luhan leaves for a much needed nap.

He doesn’t expect to see Yixing waiting for him, dressed in pajamas and looking like he’s ready for a hearty day’s worth of sleep when their flight is in less than eight hours. Luhan’s in his traveling clothes already. After his power nap, he intends to pack up whatever’s left and hit the road.

Except Yixing has other things in mind.

“Why didn’t you sleep in the chair last night?” He’s genuine, Luhan knows. Yixing’s seen him nap in more awkward situations. Once there was a four hour meeting with their bosses about their contracts, and Luhan had napped with his eyes hooded and back against the wall whilst standing. A chair should have been child’s play.

“Stress,” he says, because it’s partially true.

Yixing pouts. When he pouts, Luhan melts. “You’re not telling me everything,” he accuses.

Luhan has a tendency not to. “Shouldn’t you be napping as well? I’ll wake you up in two hours.” He turns away to leave, only to feel a hand enclose over his wrist.

Years ago (ages, Luhan would correct), he didn’t like it when Yixing engulfed this person in a hug and gave that person a reason to poke his dimple. But that was a long time ago. Now, whenever there’s contact, there’s a shiver. Luhan doesn’t feel like he deserves it.

“They won’t leave without us,” Yixing assures. “You need sleep too.”

Luhan doesn’t say anything, and only lets himself get led to his bed. Yixing takes his place on the opposite one. Without another word, he carefully gets underneath the covers, but doesn’t lie down until Luhan’s taken off his shoes and sweater and settled underneath his covers as well. They smile before drifting off.

In his dreams, Yixing is all his, like he once craved all those years ago. In his dreams, he undoes the waist cast around the man’s injured hips and kisses the tender flesh beneath. He lets his fingers massage the soreness away, and he sings and hums and nuzzles the bruised skin until warmth and color return to the skin and Yixing’s smiling and humming along with him as he threads his fingers through Luhan’s brown locks. In his dreams, he kisses Yixing, and he gets a taste of those red buds of flesh that haunt him daily. In his dreams, Yixing wants him as much as he does. In his dreams, Yixing loves him.

He awakens to Yixing seated next to him, already dressed and smiling.

“I packed your stuff. We’re leaving in an hour.”

He blinks and wonders if his dream had any semblance of truth in them, and guesses not because Yixing still sees him as a friend, an ally, as someone worth speaking to. Yixing is still an intangible force of nature, and Luhan is tired.

“Yeah.”

They don’t say much as they get in the van and head off to the airport. Yixing speaks to the others. A few of them hug him. Minseok does the big-brother pat like he always does, and Wufan’s beaming and the manager looks like he’s breathing again. Luhan smiles heavily, and recalls the days (centuries ago, if it were possible) where this would have been unacceptable and the green monster within wouldn’t have been able to handle it. But that was a long time ago.

**~*~**

“You ever think about what you’re going to do once you get home? Once this is all over?”

Luhan blinks, stopping his noodles midway. “No,” he deadpans, even though it’s a total lie and Yixing clearly isn’t as dumb as he looks.

“Well, I do,” the latter admits. “I think about it a lot.”

“What do you think about?” Luhan blurts it out before his brain-to-mouth filter can kick in.

This amuses Yixing, and he smiles. When he smiles, Luhan melts. “I think about us getting to know each other better. Without the added baggage.”

Luhan didn’t know his heart could beat that fast. “You still want us to be friends?”

Yixing looks appalled. “Of course!” He slaps Luhan’s hand with the back of his spoon, but Luhan is blinking and blank-faced.

“Really?”

Yixing rolls his eyes. “Duh. But besides that, I think it would be great if we could work together after we’re finished here. We make a great pair, don’t we?”

Luhan thinks they’d make a wonderful couple as well, but he decides not to mention it. “Definitely.”

“Then let’s prepare for it,” he says, and Luhan is just a tad bit confused.

Yixing doesn’t kiss him. Luhan doesn’t kiss Yixing. But somehow, along the course of their conversation, Yixing’s fingers have entwined with Luhan’s free hand. And Luhan’s gripping it tighter than he can imagine, and the latter doesn’t seem to mind.

“I’d like that,” he says. He licks his lips, which are unreasonably dry. Luhan thinks it’s probably not the weather. Yixing smiles. And when he smiles, Luhan melts.

It’s been years since that green monster crept through the crevices of his personality and showed itself. Luhan thinks that now,  _finally_ , it’s gone for good.


End file.
